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Gov’t compiles unified style guide on English names for landmarks

June 17, 2015

It’s not too difficult to find menus looking like this in S. Korea. (Yonhap)

SEOUL (Yonhap) — The South Korean government announced Wednesday it has compiled a unified style guide on English names for South Korean places and landmarks.

The Culture Ministry said it wanted to ensure consistency in English spellings among government agencies and regional authorities, and make life easier for foreign tourists.

For instance, the Ministry of Land has been using Namsan (Mt) to refer to the mountain in downtown Seoul.

The letters “san” in Korean literally means “mountain,” which has created inconsistencies in the place’s English spelling.

The Korea Tourism Organization has been using “Namsan Mountain,” while the Seoul Metropolitan Government has been spelling it “Namsan (Mountain).”

Under the new style guide, the mountain is to be spelled Namsan Mountain, without parentheses, even though it translates to “south mountain mountain.”

The ministry and the National Institute of the Korean Language have worked together and have polled tourists and foreign embassies in Seoul to come up with consistent spellings.

According to the ministry, 62 percent of those polled said it was easier to read names without explanations in parentheses.